Scottish Executive

Central Heating Programme

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Eaga Partnership is charging pensioners £40 to lodge an appeal against a decision to refuse an application for the installation of central heating under the central heating installation programme and, if so, what its position is on the matter.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Applicants who apply for free central heating are visited by one of Eaga’s surveyors. If there is an existing central heating system and it is not clear that it is broken and beyond repair, a further specialist surveyor inspects the system. If that inspector determines that the system can be repaired the householder is offered the right of appeal against the decision. If they take up that right they are asked to pay £40 towards the cost of another inspection of their system. If the appeal is successful the £40 is returned. The estimated appeal fee is estimated to be one third to one half of the actual cost of an inspection.

Conservation

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what protection Aucheninnes bog, Dalbeattie, is being given.

Allan Wilson: Aucheninnes Moss is not considered by Scottish Natural Heritage to form raised bog habitat as it consists of modified bog habitat which takes the form of wet heath. Scottish Natural Heritage do not therefore consider that Aucheninnes Moss merits notification as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Nor does it meet the criteria for consideration as a proposed Special Area of Conservation for bog habitat under the EC Habitats Directive.

  Even though Aucheninnes Moss has not been designated as a Special Area of Conservation or Site of Special Scientific Interest, any proposed change in land use at Aucheninnes Moss would constitute development under the planning system and would therefore require planning permission from the relevant planning authority.

  In relation to the proposed new development at Auchininnes, Scottish Natural Heritage is currently working with Dumfries and Galloway Council and the proposed developers on an agreement to ensure that the area is managed optimally for conservation once completed. Scottish Natural Heritage are seeking to conclude a section 69 agreement to provide the means of managing an adjacent area of similar habitat, known to support bog bush cricket and adder as well as food plants of some of the other species. This would enable removal of scrub, monitoring and maintenance of the water table and conservation of the appropriate food plants. In addition, possibilities for the translocation of the bog bush cricket to this adjacent area and to other areas of suitable habitat are being explored.

Environment

Rosie Kane (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will establish an environmental court as part of the implementation of the United Nations Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters and, if so, what the remit of such a court would be.

Cathy Jamieson: The Aarhus Convention does not specify that an environmental court must be created and the Scottish Executive has no plans at present to establish one. The Executive are currently making arrangements to meet the requirements of the convention in relation to public access to environmental information and access by non governmental organisations to the courts in certain environmental matters.

Health

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that patients with Alzheimer's disease receive adequate nutrition in hospital.

Mr Tom McCabe: High quality, nutritious food is essential to improving the health and functional ability of hospital patients. Our National Health , published in December 2000, (Bib. number 10298), invited the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland (now NHS Quality Improvement Scotland) to develop clinical standards for food, fluid and nutritional care in hospitals.

  The standards were published last month (Food, Fluid and Nutritional Care in Hospitals, Bib. number 29700) and delivery against these standards will be reviewed by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland and the findings published.

Health

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the outcome of its consultation on health protection in Scotland.

Malcolm Chisholm: The consultation was carried out as part of our drive to strengthen health protection functions in Scotland to ensure that we have in place arrangements which are capable of effectively monitoring, addressing and responding to a widening spectrum of environmental, biological, chemical and infectious threats. In particular, views were sought on six options for structural change, which took into account the establishment of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in England and Wales. I am grateful to the 95 respondents for their constructive submissions, a summary of which is being today placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

  The option most favoured by respondents, and which the Executive accepts, envisages the HPA assuming responsibility in Scotland for the functions at present discharged by the National Radiological Protection Board, for the services provided hitherto by the National Focus for Chemical Incidents, and for the commissioning of an integrated UK poisons service, which will include the Scottish Poisons Information Bureau, one of six centres of the National Poisons Information Service in the UK. Delivering these specialised functions on this basis will help ensure common standards of efficiency and performance across the UK and facilitate the sharing of expertise and concerted working.

  In Scotland, the functions of the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, the health surveillance elements of the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency (CSA), and the current responsibilities of the National Services Division of the CSA in relation to the Scottish National Reference Laboratories will be brought together into a new Scottish health protection organisation, which will form a discrete division within the CSA. The detailed arrangements for the establishment of the new organisation will be the subject of further discussion with key stakeholders and staff interests. The health protection functions of NHS boards and local authorities will be unaffected, but we will be putting in place strong administrative mechanisms to ensure collaborative working.

  The UK Government has already made clear its intention of introducing legislation at Westminster as soon as parliamentary time allows, to create the HPA, as a non-departmental public body, with a range of functions including radiation protection. Subject to the agreement of the Parliament by means of a Sewel motion, it is proposed that the legislation should provide for the agency to be under a duty to provide advice on radiation to the Scottish Executive. It will also undertake the functions in the poisons and chemicals fields already mentioned. Subject to passage of the legislation, the National Radiological Protection Board will be wound up, and staff and resources transferred to the HPA. National Poisons Information Service staff will remain with their present employers in the NHS. The Parliament will be invited to approve a Sewel motion in respect of the UK legislation once it has been brought forward at Westminster.

  These proposals will simplify the structures for the delivery of health protection in Scotland and the rest of the UK, and provide greater coherence and clarity in responding to the new demands and challenges of the 21st century, in this increasingly important field.

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what programmes are in place to make young people aware of mental illness and how these programmes are evaluated to assess their effectiveness.

Mr Tom McCabe: There is a range of work in hand to make young people aware of mental illness.

  Improving the mental health of children and young people is one of the priority areas for the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being.

  The national programme provides funding to a range of projects, including for example "Young People’s Voice" run by Penumbra and the West Lothian Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Project. All projects supported by the national programme require to produce reports on outcomes, for evaluation by the national programme team.

  In 2000, the Scottish Executive commissioned the Public Health Institute for Scotland (now NHS Health Scotland) to undertake a national review of child and adolescent mental health and the organisation and delivery of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) within its Scottish Needs Assessment Programme (SNAP). The SNAP report was published in March 2003 and provides a comprehensive assessment of the mental health needs of children and young people in Scotland and what action is needed to strengthen support for them throughout childhood and adolescence. The report recommends that attention to mental health promotion, prevention and care should be integral to the work of all children's services.

  Last year, the Child Health Support Group, an expert advisory group established by the Scottish Executive in 2000, set up a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Development Group to work with the Scottish Executive Health Department and NHSScotland to ensure implementation of the SNAP recommendations. This includes collaborative work with the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-being to develop proposals for national initiatives to improve mental health and promote emotional resilience in early childhood and at vulnerable points of teenage transition.

  The Scottish Executive Education Department has established an Emotional and Mental Well-being Collaborative Group to examine the role of schools in improving the emotional and mental health and well-being of children and young people.

  One of the three key areas of NHS Health Scotland’s current Young People’s Programme is support for young people’s mental health and well-being. This includes work to identify factors that promote emotional resilience and to evaluate the effectiveness of various approaches that address young people’s mental health.

Renewable Energy

Mr Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the levels of market incentive for wave energy projects such as Ocean Power Delivery Ltd’s Pelamis project being offered by other countries such as Portugal.

Lewis Macdonald: Renewable energy generators in Portugal are guaranteed access to the grid, with utilities obliged to pay a guaranteed tariff for renewable output. For the first 20 MegaWatts of installed wave capacity built, developers can expect a price of 23 Eurocents or 14.5 pence per kilowatt hour generated under the tariff.

  This system means that electricity prices to businesses and consumers are also higher. The Renewables Obligation Scotland (ROS) incentivises new developments whilst keeping the additional costs to consumers at a reasonable level. We are committed to keeping the ROS under review, with a full review scheduled for 2005-06.

Renewable Energy

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has the necessary resources within the Inquiry Reporters' Unit to deal with the current level of applications to construct onshore wind farms.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Applications to construct onshore wind farms would only come before the Inquiry Reporters Unit if they were the subject of appeals, of applications called in by Scottish ministers or of proposals under the Electricity Act 1989 for which an inquiry was necessary. We consider that the unit is appropriately resourced to deal with the current level of such applications.

Renewable Energy

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what planning guidance it currently issues to local authorities on the siting of onshore wind farms.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when it last reviewed its planning guidance to local authorities on the siting of onshore wind farms.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review its planning guidance to local authorities on the siting of onshore wind farms.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the current planning guidance to local authorities on the siting of onshore wind farms takes adequate account of public opinion in the affected areas.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Guidance is given in National Planning Policy Guideline 6: Renewable Energy Technologies  (NPPG 6). This was revised in November 2000. National Planning Policy Guideline 6: Renewable Energy Technologies balances our obligation to tackle climate change with the need to safeguard Scottish communities and the environment. In particular, it confirms that "developments should not be permitted where they would have a significant long term detrimental impact on the amenity of people living nearby, and where the impact cannot be mitigated satisfactorily". As with all planning applications, legitimate public concern is a material planning consideration. It is for the decision maker to decide what weight should be given to each material consideration. Like all national planning policies, NPPG 6 is kept under review.

Renewable Energy

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities have the necessary resources within their planning departments to deal with the current level of applications to construct onshore wind farms.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the cost to it and local authorities of determining all the current planning applications to construct onshore wind farms.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Applications to planning authorities are generally accompanied by a fee. The intention is that this fee should recover the full costs incurred in handling the application from registration to determination. Planning fees are reviewed annually with the intention that full recovery of overall outlay is achieved for Scotland as a whole. No information is gathered on whether authorities make profits or losses for specific cases, or types of cases. The Executive has made no assessment of the costs involved in considering proposals under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 either to the Executive itself or to planning authorities.